Some People Call Her A Mutant, Some People Call Her Stunning! Whatever You Call Her, Remember, She’s Incredibly Rare!

Australians are amazed by a photo of a ‘mutant’ rainbow lorikeet mingling with her mates in a woman’s backyard!

A woman from North Rothbury, west of Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia has shared some stunning photos of a rainbow lorikeet covered in remarkably beautiful ‘mutant’ markings on her feathers. The bird was hanging out with all the other lorikeets in the woman’s backyard.

The photo shows the bird with bright yellow patches of feathers on what would normally be a green-colored back, she also had red flecks on what would normally be a plain blue head.

“‘Had this beautiful little one visit me in my yard yesterday afternoon with some fellow rainbow lorikeets. I am led to believe it’s a natural mutation,” the woman wrote. 

A standard rainbow lorikeet (pictured below) does not have yellow patches on its back or red flecks on the head. 

The picture amazed social media users after it was posted to the Australian Native Birds Facebook group on Tuesday and has received almost 500 comments and more than 1,000 shares. 

One person said “lorikeet breeders sometimes came across birds like this,” calling it a ‘pied mutation’(pictured below). 

Another cause for different colorings in birds is leucism – which is not a genetic mutation but rather a defect in the pigment cells. 

Birds with leucism can display white or paler patches of feathers, giving a mottled appearance, or can be entirely pale. This is different again from Albinism in which the entire coloring of the bird – including the eyes – is affected. 

Bird watchers have previously spotted some spectacular examples of birds with unique colour variations. 

In the UK, Barry Hitchens had been visiting the Lost Garden of Heligan in St Austell in January when he spotted an unusual white-feathered bird and called experts at the beauty spot to investigate. 

A team from the tourist attraction identified the bird as a leucistic white sparrow and described the moment as ‘such a rarity’. 

An extremely rare white New Zealand Kiwi was also born in captivity in 2011, with both the bird’s parents having leucism. 

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